Music Format Standards Battle -- Bad News For... >>
<< Sprint Follows Ma Bell
 tdicon 
Nextwave To Trade More Spectrum For Capital >>
<< Sprint Follows Ma Bell
 | 

Bleeding Edge

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Oct 15th 2004 9:25am





What Your Underwear Says About You

from the potty-talk dept

Well, if you're not going to shove an ID chip under your skin how about sticking some sensors in your underwear? Researchers at Nokia, Vodafone and Philips (among others) are working on medical sensor equipment that can be woven into underwear, and can monitor a wearer's health and even warn them if they might be having a stroke. The idea is to make the sensor as unobtrusive as possible, but still have it so that it's always being worn (well, one would hope not always -- just don't have a stroke in the shower). Other possible uses would be to monitor your weight and exercise patterns and your general medical health. I imagine this would go well with the high tech toilet that monitors your health and emails your doctor with information as well. Hell, why not combine them. Let your underwear talk with your toilet via bluetooth or something.

7 Comments | Leave a Comment

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  
    identicon
    dorpus, Oct 15th, 2004 @ 12:43pm

    HIPPAA?

    I just got back from a human/animal research ethics training session at the medical school here.

    This technology will create lots of ethical complexities for medical researchers, to be sure. For right now, even if we are working with anonymous tissue samples or anonymized clinical data, we still have to go through elaborate rituals of university and government approval. If such data can be accessed remotely, it will create lots of new ambiguities.

    p.s. I asked the speaker what are the ethical guidelines if one wanted to mix anonymous sperm and egg cells on a petri dish, to study conception. The answer: it's complicated.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    icon
    drteknikal (profile), Oct 15th, 2004 @ 2:18pm

    no way

    There are way too many other things that sensors in my underwear could tell you. Even worse if it keeps transmitting when I'm not in them.

    Me thinks there be privacy issues...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    TJ, Oct 15th, 2004 @ 5:14pm

    Only if...

    The only way I'd be interested in sensors in underwear is if they could remotely tell me whose pants I'd have a shot at getting into. ;-)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    DV Henkel-Wallace, Oct 15th, 2004 @ 7:54pm

    Another sense of "always on"

    ...but still have it so that it's [the sensor is] always being worn (well, one would hope not always -- just don't have a stroke in the shower).
    ... unless you're a mormon...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 17th, 2004 @ 8:37am

    Re: Only if...

    Good one, TJ! You the shiznit!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    thecaptain, Oct 18th, 2004 @ 4:38am

    Once more...

    Once more the Porn industry will LEAD THE WAY :)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 30th, 2004 @ 6:48pm

    Re: Another sense of

    Or if you are one of the girls who frequently goes without panties…

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>
Music Format Standards Battle -- Bad News For... >>
<< Sprint Follows Ma Bell
 tdicon 
Nextwave To Trade More Spectrum For Capital >>
<< Sprint Follows Ma Bell
 | 
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
A word from our Sponsors...
Sponsored Resource
Essential Reading
Techdirt Reading List
Techdirt Insider Chat

A word from our Sponsors...
Recent Stories

Thursday

8:19pm: District Attorney And Major TV Network Sued Over Stupid Reality Show (4)
5:00pm: DailyDirt: Tuition Debt Is For Chumps? (15)
4:01pm: Adam Savage On Why Copyright And Trademark Holders Need To Get Over Their Obsession With 'Control' (13)
3:01pm: Partisanship Over Spying On Journalists Is Stupid: Spying On Journalists Is Bad, Period (20)
2:00pm: Magic Hat Brewery Sues West Sixth Brewing, Claiming 6 Looks Too Much Like 9 (36)
1:01pm: Filmmaker Behind The Pirate Bay Documentary Says Bogus DMCA Takedowns Take Away His Free Speech (75)
12:04pm: Vermont Declares War On Patent Trolls; Passes New Law And Sues Notorious Patent Troll (7)
11:05am: Prenda Lawyer Says Georgia Court Should Ignore Judge Wright's Order Because... Look! Hackers! (38)
10:01am: Chicago School System On FOIA Requests: Stonewalling, Obfuscation, & Paper-Shredding (20)
8:57am: VOD Service Acetrax Shutting Down, Forcing Customers Through DRM Hoops To Retain Their Purchased Movies (34)
More arrow
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This